


Be My Lonely Valentine

by thunderfcknroad



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Pining, also, bc im a little gay dumbass actually, classic "this isnt a date haha right .... unless???" trope, coffee shop AU, for the valentines exchange, hope you like it!!, this is soppy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-02-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:55:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22951366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thunderfcknroad/pseuds/thunderfcknroad
Summary: Jon doesn't want martin to spend Valentine's day alone. His own feelings do not matter.
Relationships: Martin Blackwood/Jonathan Sims
Comments: 17
Kudos: 181





	Be My Lonely Valentine

**Author's Note:**

  * For [guilt_is_for_mortals](https://archiveofourown.org/users/guilt_is_for_mortals/gifts).



> written for the valentine's exchange so! enjoy!

Jon never really paid any attention to Valentine’s day. It wasn’t a holiday he had ever really cared about. It always seemed to roll around too fast and by the time he remembered it was happening it felt disingenuous to get anything. That, and he hadn’t actually dated anyone in a while.

This year however, the array of heart shaped chocolates on the shelves of his local tesco made him stop. He had only come in here to grab a quick meal deal before work but he found himself stuck to the ground in front of the gaudy Valentine’s display. The glassy eyes of the pink teddy bears seemed to stare into his soul.

It wasn’t as if he had plans tonight. He had no one to come home to... or go out with. Nowhere in the rules did it say that he couldn’t buy heart shaped chocolates for himself, right? Valentine’s could be about self-love too, right? In a moment of weird courage, Jon grabbed a box of chocolates from the shelf and walked away to pick up a meal deal anyways. It wasn’t until after he paid that he realised how stupid he felt.

What was he doing?

He shoved the chocolates deep into his satchel and wandered across the road to work.

The bell rang far too loudly as he entered the coffee shop. He made a beeline for the staff room, with a small nod to Melanie who was sitting behind the counter looking bored. He chucked his satchel on a chair, pulled on an apron, and got to work, doing his best to forget about the chocolates.

Martin arrived for work exactly 5 minutes early as always much to Melanie’s loudly exclaimed relief. She ruffled Jon’s hair happily as she pulled her apron off and clocked out. Jon rolled his eyes but there was no bite behind it. She deserved to be happy right now.

“Say hi to Georgie for me.”

Melanie laughed as she disappeared into the staff room. The shop was mostly dead. There had been a rush of people round lunch time, mostly couples on first dates, but it was Valentine’s day and very few people had plans after 5pm that involved coffee.

“Hey Jon.”

Jon spun around to see Martin making his way over. He tried to ignore the way that his heart skipped a little. Martin was wearing a dark red cardigan over his work t-shirt and it was a very good colour on him.

“I don’t think that is technically company approved uniform.”

Martin smiled and shrugged. “It’s Valentine’s day, I wanted to wear red. I think I can be forgiven for today.”

Jon smiled back. God only knows exactly when Jon’s heart had truly given up the fight against falling in love with Martin Blackwood but he knew it had been at least 5 months now. Martin was kind and funny and despite all of that seemed to be the one who challenged the rules the most out of all of them. Not in a way that felt like lashing out like Melanie did when she wrote “ACAB” on her name tag, but with the quiet confidence of a man who knew he was toeing the line exactly right to not get fired. When Jon had first noticed this he’d found it confusing and a little frustrating but slowly it became one of the most entertaining and endearing things about his job. Eventually “his job” was replaced by “Martin” and suddenly Jon Sims had found himself falling hard and fast.

Luckily, he had had years of practice in hiding his emotions on the job so he was confident Martin never had to know. Even if it was Valentine’s day and he had just cracked and bought a box of chocolates for no apparent reason only 5 hours ago.

Jon’s train of thought was interrupted by the staff room door banging open to reveal Melanie. Jon’s initial confusion was replaced by terror as he saw she was brandishing the chocolates he had bought.

“Jonathan Sims, do you have a date!?”

Jon did not need to see himself to know he was blushing bright scarlet as he hurried over to grab the chocolates from Melanie’s hand.

“Why were you going through my stuff?”

Melanie just shrugged. “You put your bag on my jacket and it fell on the floor. But you are dodging the question. Who have you bought chocolates for?”

The instinct to lie and say he had a date with a random stranger swelled in Jon’s chest. Then he caught sight of Martin out of the corner of his eye and he deflated completely.

“They’re… for me.”

There was a silence. Jon tried not to see the look of pity that was passed between Melanie and Martin.

“You bought yourself chocolates? On Valentine’s day?”

Jon frowned. He wanted to be angry at Melanie but his heart wasn’t in it. Instead he just picked open the Sellotape on the side of the box and pulled the lid off, offering it to Melanie.

“It was a stupid moment of weakness in tesco. I was feeling soppy and wanted some chocolates. It’s not that deep. Here, we can share them.”

Melanie hesitated before grabbing one.

“Jon…”

Jon just waved away her comments with his hand. “Seriously Melanie it’s fine. I’m fine. Just… go home. Georgie is probably wondering where you are.”

There is a beat of silence before Melanie pulls him into a quick hug.

“Just don’t be too hard on yourself, ok?”

Jon nodded and watched the door close behind her. He took a shaky breath and plastered on a careful smile before turning to Martin.

“Want one?”

He expected to see pity on Martin’s face but there was none of that to be found. There just seemed to be a look of mild confusion and entertainment. He carefully picked a chocolate from the box and smiled.

“You know I didn’t think you went in for 'soppy', as you call it.”

Jon bristled slightly. “Well, to be fair you only really see me at work.”

At that, Martin’s face seems to fall a little, if only for a second. Jon cleared his throat and placed the chocolates off to one side.

“So, do  _ you _ have a date tonight?”

Martin laughed drily.

“Ah no. No I’m afraid I too am going to be ‘soppy’ on my ownsome tonight.”

Jon felt a jolt of pain at the genuine sadness that passed over Martin’s face. Jon may not often put much care into Valentine’s day but it was becoming clear to him that Martin did. Martin who had been practicing making hearts with the coffee milk for about a week, who had come in wearing a red cardigan.

“Come to mine.”

The words had left Jon’s mouth before he could even think about them.

Martin looked completely stunned and Jon immediately started to backpedal.

“I- I mean… We both seem a little under the weather about being alone on valentine’s day. We can just order a pizza or something and finish this stupid box of chocolates and watch tv for a bit. Not in a- a romantic way just, like friends. I’m not asking you on a date or anything.”

Jon tried to keep his voice level but he found himself breathless by the end as he trailed off and looked at the floor.

“I’d like that, Jon.”

Jon’s head snapped up. Martin was grinning and Jon felt a little light headed.

The rest of their shift went both too quickly and not fast enough. As he watched the minutes tick by, Jon’s heart only beat faster. He started to worry about his flat and what it looked like and if Martin would like it and if he had tea at home and if Martin would even want tea and if that was a stupid thing to think and if he’d done the dishes recently and –

_ Stop it. _

He turned the music up a little to distract him and soon enough the last few people trickled out of the shop and they started to go through the motions of closing up. Luckily, they were done pretty quickly and soon Jon found himself standing outside in the biting wind, with Martin standing altogether too close, waiting for a cab.

The cab ride itself felt charged in a way Jon couldn’t really understand. Martin spent the whole time looking out of the window, seeming completely engrossed in watching the lights of London pass him by. Jon, on the other hand, couldn’t stop focusing on Martins hand that was thoughtlessly laying in the empty seat between them. He could just take it.

He could.

He didn’t, though. This was just two friends hanging out. That’s what he had promised to Martin. That’s what Martin had signed up for. And yet, the further they got from their work, the harder Jon was finding that to maintain.

There were no walls up anymore. Home was where all his walls came down. And now he’d let Martin into that bubble and he was growing increasingly worried about what he would find.

When they got to the flat, Jon was relieved to find that it wasn’t in as bad a state as he had thought it might be. He gathered up a few stray papers and letters from the coffee table and chucked them in a drawer before gesturing to the sofa.

“Make yourself at home. Do you want a cup of tea?”

“Uh just water is fine actually.”

Jon nodded. He quickly ran to the bedroom and changed his work t-shirt for his favourite hoodie. Then he grabbed a glass of water before settling next to Martin on the sofa.

He flicked on the tv mostly as background noise. They ordered pizza and chatted mindlessly. It was only small talk but Jon felt himself physically calming down throughout. He curled his feet up underneath him and leaned his head on the back of the couch, just listening to Martin talk. Martin was animated and fidgety as he spoke. He seemed nervous but not uncomfortable.

Jon really hoped he didn’t look too lovestruck.

The bell rang and Jon broke out of his daze. He placed the pizza between them on the sofa. He laughed as he opened it and saw that it was heart shaped. Martin smiled and pulled out his phone to take a picture.

“I can’t believe this is the most romantic date I’ve been on in years and it’s not even a date.”

Jon tried to laugh but it died in his throat which meant the words just hung in the air. Jon couldn’t help think that the whole room suddenly felt charged. He carefully avoided Martin’s eyes and took a slice of pizza.

He turned his attention to the tv in front of him. He didn’t watch a lot of TV but he vaguely registered that a quiz show was just starting up and he smiled.

“How’s your general knowledge, Martin?”

Martin looked at him questioningly, a mouth full of pizza, and tilted his hand a little in the air. The universal sign for “so-so”.

Jon pulled the box of chocolates towards them.

“Every correct answer wins you a chocolate. Otherwise I’m never going to finish these. You in?”

Martin smiled.

“Alright you are on.”

They fell into a quietly competitive spirit as the show progressed. The discomfort that had hung in the air faded and Jon’s laughter came easier than it had in months.

They were running neck and neck when they finally ran out of chocolates and the show started to round to an end. The pizza had been finished a while back and Jon moved the box onto the coffee table. The space between them suddenly felt very empty.

Jon found himself staring at the offending space of sofa as if he could maybe stare it out of existence. Eventually the weird silence was broken by Martin.

“Jon I- I think I should be heading home.”

Jon immediately panicked. “You don’t have to! I mean – it’s barely gone 9. I can call you a cab if there are no tubes or buses. I don’t”

He was cut off by a small chuckle from Martin. “It’s not – It’s not the time I’m worried about, Jon. I’m sorry. I thought I could do this. I thought this could stay platonic but I really can’t do this. I mean for god’s sake I just shared a heart shaped pizza and a box of valentine’s chocolates with you. I can’t do this!”

Martin’s voice started to shake and Jon froze. Ok he had clearly done a much worse job of keeping his feelings in check than he had thought.

“Martin… I’m sorry. I- I thought I had everything under control. I’m sorry, I understand. I hope you won’t hold it against me at work. Also please don’t say anything to Melanie she won’t ever let me live it down.”

“Hold it against you? Why would- what are you talking about, Jon?”

Now Jon properly looked at Martin. He was missing something. He could feel it in the charged air between them.

“I’m talking about my feelings for you? What are  _ you  _ talking about?”

There was a moment of clarity on Martin’s face that Jon would later joke could have been seen from space.

“Holy shit.” Martin took a step towards him and suddenly they were very close indeed. Jon could barely breathe. “I’m talking about my feelings for you.”

Jon tried really hard to form a real word but all that actually escaped his mouth sounded more like a squeak. He blushed and Martin bit his lip to hold back a laugh. Martin’s hand came up to rest gently on the side of Jon’s neck.

“Jonathan Sims, can I kiss you?”

Jon nodded and Martin closed the gap.

The only coherent thought Jon was able to form before he was completely overwhelmed was that maybe he would remember Valentine’s day more often now.

**Author's Note:**

> find me @ thunderfcknroad everywhere
> 
> comments loved and appreciated!


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